13 Colonies Event

This was my 8th year in a row participating in the 13 Colonies Special event surrounding the United States Independence Day. I was able to contact 8 of the special event stations within a half-hour of starting on Saturday Morning and then able to complete the remaining 7 station and a bonus station this afternoon. Hunting and making contact with the special event stations using the Flex 6300 and Hex-beam was like shooting fish in a barrel.

Thanks again to FlexRadio for putting together such a capable and enjoyable radio.

We got home from our summer home on Friday abt 3 PM local. BY 5 I was back on the Flex and worked all 13 on CW in 2 hours. Got the PA bonus station the next morning. Never did hear the Brit, nor see him spotted on CW. I have the certificate from 2 years ago, so this was just for fun, and to see the 13 all consecutive in the log.

I am in NV and with the higher bands in bad shape, I was basically limited to 20, 30 and 40. East coast / midwest has major advantage on 40 and 80. I got all 13 plus wm3pen. Had zero chance breaking through east coast wall working the red coats with only a multiband dipole. I was lucky to get k2c. They seemed to be hard to hear as well as wm3pen. Regardless, happy to get the sweep.

ok ok.. I worked them all as well.. now I have to make room on the wall for another 13 colonies event certificate..

Found one that was a little frustrating, either HAMs just don't listen, cant hear or cant count.. not sure which it is.. but GB13COL was going by numbers, never fails he called for 3's and I hear no less then 10 calls of everything but 3's in the call sign... some things never change

I lucked out. I just got my tower with Hex Beam up and pointed to EU (hadn't run rotor control into the shack yet). I heard GB13COL. When he finished the QSO, he called QRZ 8's. Got him on the first call with 25 or 50 watts.

I am a relatively new Flex 6700 owner and just received the Maestro. I was able to work most of the 13 Colonies event stations, except K2E, K2J and WM3PEN :( I worked the other 12 all QRP SSB (due to a very limited temporary antenna). It was a lot of work, took a lot of patience and careful timing, particularly North Carolina and GB13COL. It was a lot of fun!

I heard K2J, he couldn't hear me, turns out the wind had blown my temporary antenna over and I didn't know it yet. I never positively heard K2E.

It would have been nice if all of the event stations worked 'by the numbers' (a few did). QRP windows would have been really appreciated. As pointed out in an earlier comment, not all participants were well mannered :)

Looking forward to next year with a permanent antenna and more experience with the Flex.

BTW, More than once I heard stations call for "QRP Only"... and several people came back to them. When the operator asked how much power they were running, they said "30 Watts!" I always thought that even though QRP literally means "Reduce Power" the normal usage of the term has come to mean "5 Watts or less." I guess that If you usually run 1500+ Watts then 30 Watts is QRP!

I have two Transmit Profiles stored that let me instantly shift from my normal 100 Watts down to 5 or 1 watts at times such as this. But this time my 5 Watts and LP antenna couldn't get through the 30 Watt "QRP" stations! Oh Well, I still worked them at 100 Watts when they went back to the regular calls.

Ken - NM9P

It has been said...."Life is too short for QRP"......but it is sometimes a lot of fun trying!

Ken, that is a good question! When I was a baby ham (late 1960's) I was taught that QRP was 5 watts or less. I've had a lot of folks correct me in the last decade that 20 watts is considered QRP. Inflation? :) I've drawn the line at 20 watts, however that might be too generous as you point out.

I think the 'inflation' of the QRP definition may have started with some field-radio types who are using some highly sophisticated ex-military and commercial man-pack radios, many of which run about 20w, as do a few of the new ChiCom rigs. 5w is still the standard for most official QRP awards from groups like QRPARCI and NAQCC.

I don't believe that 'going by the numbers is a valid idea any longer. Most hams who move just keep their call sign from on call area to the next. What might work is going by call district. All hams in say district 2 answer. Even if they might have 4 in the call. I know this relies on each operators honesty to work. I live in Az and have 2 call. even with an amp running, how could I compete with all the 2's in 2 land trying to work Europe?

Rick, I don't think it's about going by geographic area. Going by the numbers reduces the number of people calling at once time in a pileup, giving everyone a better chance. I am a 6 living in Arizona and I've been in dozens of "by the number" pileups. I answer when the op calls for sixes, not sevens. I believe that's the only correct way to do it.